hansen



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 (No Model.)

L. HANSEN' 33 A. SMITH. APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WOOD.

No. 333,730. Patented Jan. 3, 1333.

N. PETERS4 Plwm-Lnrmgmplwr. wnsningmn. D.c.

(NoModel.) 2'sheets-sheet2- L. HANSEN 8v A. SMITH.

APPARATUS POR DISTILLING WOOD.

No. 333,750. Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

/vn vfe u ford' f UNITED STATES N PATENT OFFICE'.

LUDVIG HANSEN AND ANDREW SMITH, OF WILMINGTON, N. C.V

APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WOOD.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No.7333,750, dated January5,1886.

Application filed October l0, 1855.

`To all whom it may concern:

' sote, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an apparatus for the dry distillation of woodfor abstracting the spirits, pyroligneous acid, 85o., but moreespecially the creosotecontained therein, to be utilized for thepreservation of timber, and for other purposes.

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in theconstruction of a retortfurnace for the manufacture of creosote fromwood, whereby the retort may be more rapidly heated for promoting theprocess, and more rapidly cooled than heretofore when it is desired toremove the old charge in order to substitute aV new one.

The improvements will be hereinafter fully described, and specificallypointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying twosheets of drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a front or end view ofthe apparatus, the end cover of the retort being removed and partsbroken out to show the construction. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section ofthe same, taken on the line .c a; of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is apartial-horizontal section taken on the line y y of Figs. 1 and 2. Fig.4 is a front or end View of the furnace with the door or end coverclosed. Fig. 5 is a detail showing the manner of tightening theretort-cover.

A is the masonry or brick furnace holding the retort. B is the retort,being an iron cylinder supported in the end walls of the furnace A.

Heretofore we have supported the ends of the retort directly upon and incontact with the end walls of the furnace, (sixteen inches thick,) buthave found that (owing to the fact of the brick retaining its heat somuch longer than the iron) that portion of the retort which is in directcontact with the brick wall will Serial No. 179,479. (No model.)

iron. To prevent this,we cover the end walls of the furnace with ironplates or frames C, resting the ends of the retort in closely-fittinglopenings in the said frames G, and leaving an air-space clear laroundthe entire retort, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The retort is preferably made verylomg` say twenty-five or twenty-sixfeet-and adapted to hold conveniently six cords of wood. For rapidlyheating a retort of this size, the furnace A is made double, beingdivided centrally by a crosspartition, a, in two exactly similar parts,A A2, this partition, where in contact with the retort B', being made asthin as it judiciously can be to not prolong the; cooling of the retort.

The two parts A A2 of the furnace being alike, the description of onewill apply to the other. arch, a', provided at its inner ends with fluefopenings a2, the fuel being inserted throughthe yfire-place door as inthe outer end wall, af being the grate, and c5 the ash-pit. The sidewalls of the furnace run up vertically, and then are joined by an archabove the retort B, leaving a space, b, all around the retort.

In order to circulate the heat and gases of combustion, so as to heatall parts of the retortV rapidly and uniformly, the space b is dividedat proper intervals by partitions placed The fire-place is covered witha brick,l V

alternately below and above the retort and high or deep enough tosurround, respectively, the lower and upper semicircle of the latter.The lower said partitions, b', are preferably made of thin molded slabsof fire-clay, and the upper partitions, b2, of iron plates. The spacebetween the arch a and the retort prevents the flame from inipingingupon the latter, which would have the effect to overi heat and burn someparts of the same, thereby acting also unevenly upon the wood in theretort, and the end flues, a2, being at the side instead of in themiddle ofthe arch, and at the inner end thereof, (see the broken-outpart of Fig. 1,) the heated gases will strike the side walls first andexpand in the space b before striking the retort. They will then pass,as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, to the upper part of the space b;then forward and down along the first partition, b2, to the lower lowerpartition, b', and again to the upper IOO part of the `space; then downagain along the second upper partition, b2, to the lower part of thespace b, and finally up to the upper part of the spaceand out throughthe stack b3, thus successively rising and diving around all parts ofthe retort as many times as may be desired, and determined by the numberof partitions used. It will be seen that for every time the gases movedownward they become reheated, in a measure, by contact or proximity tothe heated arch a, thus replacing the heat `just previously imparted bythem to the upper part of the retor D are the doors or end covers of theretort, each Onebeing hinged to the frame C in the usual manner; andinorder to relieve the I weight on the hinges the door is providedunderneath with a roller, d, pivoted between two lugs, which rollerworks upon a curved rail, d', which. at its outer end is provided with astop, cl2, to limit the movement of the door when itis sufficientlyopen.v The doorhas on the inside a cylindrical pan .or inwardprojlcction fitting Within the retort, and of the same or alittlegreater depth than the thickness of the frame G at its point of contactwith the retort'. 'A e 'Inv order to keep the doors air-tight againsttheretort ends,they are provided with latches c', whose inner, ends larepivoted tothe door, While the outer ends are madewedge-shaped, as shownin Figs.l 4 and 5, and adapted, when the door is closed, to engagekeepers or hooks d o, which arer either cast upon ,or attached to theframe G. Y VThe said keepers are beveled on the inside, asfshown in Fig.5, in order4 that theA wedge-latch c, when hammered down or depressed inthekeeper, will also force the door tighter against the retort end.

The retort is provided with an` interior railtrack, E, onto which arebrought from an outer track trucksF, loaded with wood, andconstructedinsuch a manner, as shown in Fig. l, as to ,keep the woodfrorn direct Contact with the retort. The outer and 'inner tracks areconnected by loose rail-pieces e, vremovable, toallow ofopening andclosing the doors.v

Theprodu'cts of the dry distillation of the wood `pass off through thepipe f toY a condenser' in the usual manner. The Wood hav'- i'ng beenthoroughlycharred and thev desired products abstractedftherefrom, thefires are put out and the furnacecooled, so as to enable Vthe taking outof thecharcoal and. puttingin av new charge of wood. In ordertohastenthiseooling, (which heretofore has occupied about` thirty-sixhours,) and thus to save considerable time, we have provided thefollowing means: At each end ofthe furnace,

near the corners of the space b, are arranged Ventilating-doors vG, andat the inner end of the said spacethrough the side wall of the l furnace,are openings g, through which connection is' vmade by pipes h with thefan blower H. ,In coolingthefurnace the doors G are rstf opened, whilethe door a3 and thel ash-pit a5 are closed, and after the first strongdraft caused by the intluX of the air through the doors G hassubsided,the doors G are closed and the fan-blower started, thus forcing thecoldair through the fire-lues in the' direction of the arrows in thesame path as the gases of combustion passed before to heat the retort.By these means a comparatively very rapid cooling of the furnace iseffected and a great deal of time saved. v

Having thus'described our invention, what we claim as new inaretort-furnace for treating wood, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, lsi l. 'A furnace, A/, having fire-place pro-. vided with arch aandy iiues ofI at opposite sides through the inner end of saidarch, anda retort or cylinder, B, set in the said furnace; abovev said` arch andsurrounded by anairrspace, b, in combination with transverse par?titiovns b b2, dividing alternately the lower and.-

the upper half of the said'space b, forL circulat' ing the heat roundthe said retort, in the manner hereinbefore set forth.

A2. The combination of the double' furnace, l

3. The combination of the double furnace 1A, provided .with the arches aand fines a2,

with the retort B and the airspace 1;,'su rroundi ing the said retortand divided by alternate IOO transverse partitions b b2, and having venltilating endldoors, G. l v 4. The combination of the double furnace', A,provided with the arches a and fflues a2,

with the'retort B, having end doors, D,'pro

vided with latches c, and the airspace b, sur! rounding thesaid retortand divided by alter-- natetransverse partitions b b, and havingVentilating end doors, G. i 5.' lhe combination, with a retort-furnace,A B, having openings g leading to its fides,

IIT)

of a fan or blower, H, connected to said open! ings to force a currentof air through said dues for the rapid cooling of the retort.

6. The combination of the retort double furnace A, having around itsretort air spaces or flues b, provided with Ventilating end doors, G,with the fan-blower H, connected to forcel a current of air through thesaid flues at op? posite sides of the partition a, dividing the. saidfurnace.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as. our invention we havesigned our names, in the presence of two witnesses, of September, 1885.

.,T. T. 1 MeIvoR, v R.. G. HEIDE.

this 28th day,

IIS

LUDviG HANSEN. f

